Quote:
Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
So FOX could have a camera guy film Olympics crap and televise it? Str8, do you have Murdoch's cell number- its an emergency.
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You are confused. Yes, if the Fox channel filmed the olympics, they would own the copyright to the film. Whether they could televise it or not depends on under what terms they obtained the film footage. For instance, I am sure that as a condition of admittance to the events, you have agreed not to broadcast any videotape, etc. of the events. I am sure that is printed on the back of the tickets and that there are signs posted notifying those attending the events of this.
Moreover, I doubt a fox camera crew would be allowed into an event given that the IOC sold the exclusive rights to broadcast the events to NBC.
Now if a Fox crew snuck into the Olympics and broadcast the events in violation of the terms of admittance, the Olympic committee would have a cause of action against Fox. The IOC could sue them for damages and for an injunction barring them from broadcasting the footage under a breach of contract cause of action. However, Fox would still own the copyright to the footage. The IOC could also ask the judge for a mandatory injunction requiring Fox to destroy the footage and any copies as it was created in violation of a contractual agreement i.e., the terms of admittance to the events.
Which brings us back to the first question I asked, where did Bush get the film? I bet he got it from NBC, which owns the copyright to the films.
Absent an agreement otherwise, the IOC does not own the copyright to the NBC films. NBC does. The person who films the footage is considered the creator of the copyrightable work of art and the owner of the copyright (yes, the film is considered art under the copyright act). Now that person as an employee of NBC is almost certainly under an obligation to assign the copyrights to NBC, so NBC would be the ultimate owner of the copyrights.
Now perhaps NBC has agreed to give the copyrights to the IOC, but unless they have done that, NBC owns the copyrights to the footage of the events (assuming of course that it was filmed by an NBC employee under an obligation to assign the rights to NBC, which I am sure it was).
FYI - to whomever it was who claimed the word "Olympics" is something that someone could own as a copyright. Copyrightable subject matter includes literary works and works of art (including music and archtecture). The word "Olympics" is neither a literary work nor is it a work of art under the Copyright Act. It is a word designating a sporting event.
The other requirement is that the work be fixed in a tangible form of expression for it to be protectable under the Copyright Act. Moreover, the Fair Use exception can be quite forgiving when the work is used in the context of news and other First Amendment protected activities.
The word Olympics could be a service mark, though, under the Lanham Act.
FYI - computer software is considered a literary work and that is why code is copyrightable.
